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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 vs ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 57, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 57). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI137.3
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507

  2. Baidu

    ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B

    Released Jun 30, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.07 / $0.28
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 57/100, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B on price and Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceERNIE 4.5 21B A3BERNIE 4.5 21B A3B $0.122 · Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 262,144 · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507: Text · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
Price50%8589
Inputs & features30%2525
Context window20%3725
Overall100%57/10057/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 vs ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507Alibaba (Qwen)ERNIE 4.5 21B A3BBaidu
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)137.3—
ECI rank#124 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions55.6%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics62.2%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.07 (best)
Output$0.30$0.28 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.122 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 12 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens (best)8,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0OpenApache-2.0
API model ID——
API providers14 (best)1
ReleasedJul 28, 2025Jun 30, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507$1.60
  • ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B$1.26
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 or ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 57/100, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B on price and Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 or ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B?

ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is cheaper at $0.07 input / $0.28 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.122 per million tokens for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B versus $0.15 for Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 has an ECI of 137.3 and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 up to 16,384, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B up to 8,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 accepts text; ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0 and Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B came out Jun 30, 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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